Elevator systems are in widespread use for carrying passengers between various levels in buildings, for example. Access to an elevator car requires that elevator car doors open when the car is at a landing at which a passenger desires to board the elevator car, for example. Each landing includes hoistway doors that move with the elevator car doors between open and closed positions.
There are various known arrangements for coupling the elevator car doors to the hoistway doors so that the door mover that causes movement of the car doors also causes desired movement of the hoistway doors. Most arrangements include a set of vanes supported on the elevator car door structure and a set of rollers supported on the hoistway door structure. When the rollers are received adjacent the vanes, it is possible to move both doors together. The movement of the car doors includes one of the vanes pushing on one of the rollers to move the hoistway door in one direction and the other vane pushing on the other roller to move the hoistway door in the other direction.
Another feature of many elevator door systems is a deterrent vane that inhibits movement of the elevator car door unless the car is properly positioned at a landing. The coupling components associated with the hoistway door have to be present in order for the elevator car door to be able to open. If not, the deterrent vane moves into a position to inhibit the elevator car door from opening.
One drawback associated with previous elevator door coupler arrangements is that two vanes and two rollers are required to achieve the desired rigid link between the car door and the hoistway door and that an additional deterrent vane is required. One attempt at reducing the number of required components is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,759. That patent shows a door coupler arrangement that has only two vanes with one of them providing a deterrent function. One drawback associated with that configuration is that, as shown in FIGS. 9a-9c, the prior art car doors 200 always lead the hoistway doors 202 by several centimeters during movement from a closed position (FIG. 9a) to an open position (FIG. 9c). This requires additional hoistway clearance Δ on both sides of the elevator car in the hoistway to accommodate a longer travel distance for the car doors compared to the hoistway doors during a door opening procedure.